Bowles on Pynchon

[Mark Kohut]

Nah, Bowles read too fast or too high...........
TRP's books always come back to his deep themes....

Nabokov read Bowles "The Sheltering Sky"for New Directions' publisher. He hated it.
He was a solid minority, maybe of one. 
Laughlin of New DIrections published it anyway.



----- Original Message ----
From: rich <richard.romeo at gmail.com>
To: Henry Musikar <scuffling at gmail.com>
Cc: Pynchon Liste <pynchon-l at waste.org>
Sent: Thursday, May 14, 2009 12:22:49 PM
Subject: Re: Bowles on Pynchon

I'd say that's a pretty valid criticism but for someone who likes a
bit of everything, Pynchon's the man

I do like Bowles alot--not the type of stuff to bring with you on
trips to unknown lands.  yikes

rich

On 5/14/09, Henry Musikar <scuffling at gmail.com> wrote:
> I love Bowles terse writing style, particularly his short stories.
>
> http://alltimeisunredeemable.blogspot.com/2009/05/world-outside.html
> "We also talked about a number of other writers. Bowles confessed to loving
> Lolita, and although he he was less fond of Pale Fire and Nabokov's other
> works, he did allow that Nabokov's influence on younger writers was
> 'positive.' At some point we resumed a discussion of Thomas Pynchon begun
> two years earlier, and again, Bowles sharply criticized Pynchon's novels,
> characterizing them as 'fumereuse'-- a French word implying a trailing off
> in all directions, like smoke. Commenting on Pynchon's famous anonymity, he
> said, laughing, 'I wonder what's wrong with him?'"
>
> I haven't had the opportunity to explore the site, but I wonder what Bowles
> thought of Burroughs.
>
> Henry Mu
> Sr. IT Consultant
> http://astore.amazon.com/tdcoccamsaxe-20/
>
>
>